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2005 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix
What the teams and drivers said - Sunday

Team and Driver Quotes following the Race

(selected team quotes, for a full team and driver preview click on the team name)

Renault ( Fernando Alonso - 1st, Giancarlo Fisichella - Retired )

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering “To see a driver control a race like Fernando did this afternoon is an impressive sight. His performance is even more remarkable when you consider he did not even use all the revs available on the engine in the opening laps. He seemed capable of increasing his pace when necessary, without putting undue stress on the car.
“We are sorry for Giancarlo, whose engine started to fail on lap two. We knew there was nothing we could do, but given the way in which the race unfolded, he could have scored a very strong result.
“We also need to thank Michelin: the tyres were really put to the test this weekend, with track temperatures over 50°C. Once again, the tyres were excellent in every area: they were quick over one lap, and consistent all the way through the race.”

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Toyota ( Jarno Trulli - 2nd, Ralf Schumacher - 4th )

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal "It is still like a dream to find ourselves in such competitive shape after only three years in the sport. I think first and foremost it is great to confirm our ultimate competitiveness at the front of Formula 1. It is also an outstanding achievement to consolidate Toyota's second place in the world championship. It really is a fantastic result. Performance-wise excellent drivers from both Jarno and Ralf. Jarno drove another smooth and consistent race making it look easy. Ralf did a great job in qualifying this morning to take him five places up the grid after a difficult lap yesterday. We knew his strategy would be compromised by stopping early but he drove a challenging race to pick up 4th place and five points - a great effort. Congratulations must again go to everyone in the team, the sponsors and the Toyota family. Now we have to look to ensure we retain this second place in the championship once the European season gets underway in Imola in three weeks."

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Williams BMW ( Mark Webber - 6th, Nick Heidfeld - Retired )

Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): This is obviously not the result we were aiming for after qualifying. In the ambient conditions we ran the engine at its thermal limits, which may have contributed to Nick's engine failure. In terms of lap times we had to manage the engine revs during the race which made it difficult for both drivers to defend. Either way we are confident that we will be able to race more strongly in Imola.

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McLaren Mercedes ( Kimi Raikkonen - 3rd, Pedro de la Rosa - 5th )

Ron Dennis: "A challenging weekend, which, in contrast to Malaysia, allowed us to demonstrate the true potential of our cars. We are fully aware of what we have to do to improve our qualifying positions and will try hard to accelerate elements of change that were originally targeted for the Spanish Grand Prix. A great result for both drivers with Kimi achieving a podium position and Pedro demonstrating the level of professionalism and speed that we have always observed in his testing role. Our goals for 2005 remain completely unchanged, there are still 16 races to go and everything is still possible."

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Red Bull ( David Coulthard - 8th, Christian Klien - Retired )

Christian Horner, Sporting Director “It was a good end to a frustrating start. It was really disappointing for Christian to not make the start after such a strong weekend but at least with David we had a fairly lengthy strategy that panned out for us. He really stuck with it and we salvaged a point. It was a pretty exciting finish on the last lap and perseverance and persistence paid off. We were again reliable with David’s car and another point and we’re looking forward to getting back to Europe. ”

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Ferrari (  Rubens Barrichello - 9th, Michael Schumacher - Retired )

Jean Todt: “The race was as tough as it was disappointing. Starting from the front row, Michael retired on lap 11, when he was fighting for the lead. Rubens staged a great climb up the order which took him from last to fifth place, but then he just lost out on a points finish in the very last moments of the race. It is disappointing, but we have also learnt that the F2005 is competitive. It is clear that we have a lot of work to do to improve its overall reliability, along with our partners, first and foremost Bridgestone. The net result of these first three races outside Europe is certainly a negative one and not up to our standard. However, I am convinced that we are totally capable of recovering in time for the race at Imola, where we will race in front of so many of our fans.”

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Sauber ( Felipe Massa - 7th, Jacques Villeneuve - 11th )

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "This was a very tough race, and both drivers did a very good job. Jacques was unlucky to lose the final point when Coulthard ran into him in the closing stages, but Felipe's two points for seventh place were a great present, a thank you to the team as everyone here in Bahrain and back home in Hinwil celebrates our 200th race. It is a satisfying way to finish the opening stint of the season, and sets us up for our forthcoming test session in Barcelona later this week which will help us to prepare for the European races."

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Jordan ( Tiago Monteiro - 10th, Narain Karthikeyan - Retired )

Trevor Carlin, Sporting Director
“We are slightly disappointed that Narain had a problem on the third lap and could not finish the race as he made up some good positions and things were looking quite good. Tiago has done a fantastic job to bring the car home in very difficult conditions. We are very pleased with our first top ten finish and we are improving at every race a little bit at a time.”

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Minardi ( Patrick Friesacher - 12th, Christijan Albers - 13th )

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“This was a fitting finish to the career of the PS04, with both Minardi entries taking the chequered flag in gruelling conditions. Patrick and Christijan found themselves struggling towards the end of the race, but persevered. We now move on to Imola with the introduction of the new car in sight and, hopefully, the start of improved Minardi performance in 2005.”

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BAR Honda ( Jenson Button - Retired, Takuma Sato - Retired )

Geoff Willis, Technical Director
"Obviously the team are frustrated to have retired both cars from the race after what was promising to be a good performance for the team. Despite the retirements by Takuma who had run-away brake wear and by Jenson, who in his last pit stop appears to have had a clutch failure, there are a number of good points to take out of the race. As shown by the late first pit stops, both drivers had qualified with high fuel loads and our strategy was working well; the team beat Ferrari in Takuma's first pit stop allowing him to pass Barrichello. Both drivers drove well, Jenson taking the fifth fastest lap despite having to look after his brakes and Takuma having a strong start and first few laps to move from 13th to 8th by lap three. Takuma was in 6th place when he retired and Jenson was up to 7th.
"We now have to investigate the cause of our brake and clutch failures. We have a lot of new parts to test in the next two weeks and with new engines for Imola we have to focus on improving our chassis performance for the next race."

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Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport “It looked like a potentially successful weekend but unfortunately it did not finish as we had hoped. We have clearly made steps forward in the past two weeks and with the support of our teams we shall no doubt make further steps forward. Ferrari worked hard to bring forward the introduction of their new car and together we set about improving the performance of the Bridgestone tyres for this weekend. In this respect we feel we have made progress. Rubens had a tough time here getting very little track time prior to the race but Michael was able to run strongly this weekend in the practice sessions and he went on to confirm his pace with two good qualifying sessions, setting the third and second fastest times respectively, giving him an aggregated front row position on the grid. Both he and Rubens were also fighting strongly at the beginning of the race: Michael maintained his second place until retiring and Rubens clawed his way up from last on the grid to fifth before he began to lose his tyre’s competitiveness. This is obviously an area on which we need to work over the next three weeks and we shall do our best for the race in San Marino.”

Full Bridgestone Race Report  Back to Top

Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director “When we first saw the 2005 Formula One tyre rules, our engineers knew they were taking on a difficult challenge – and I’d like to compliment all of them on a job well done. Our unbeaten start to the season has been a source of great satisfaction. It reflects very well on our technical expertise.”
“Today’s race was very demanding, because of the extreme temperatures, and we witnessed a number of fascinating battles involving all of our partner teams. It is clear that tyre-wear rates differed from car to car, but none of the Michelin runners had any problem racing hard all the way to the flag.”
“This has not been an easy weekend – the increased pace of Michael Schumacher saw to that – but we produced a package that had a clear edge in an extremely competitive situation. We will spare no effort to maintain the upper hand when the world championship returns to Europe later this month.”

Full Michelin Race Report  Back to Top

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